Ivey’s Plumbing and Electrical Company was founded in 1947 by Mr. Kermit Ivey in Kosciusko, Mississippi. The small repair shop focused on residential and small commercial construction. The company continued on a steady growth pattern with annual sales approaching a half-million dollars by 1958.

It was in this year that the founder’s son, Marlin, joined the partnership with his father. The partnership was based upon an agreement to shift the marketing focus from residential to commercial projects. Time has proven this working combination to have been a template for future success.

The first major commercial job the company acquired was the electrical contract for the new East and West Side Elementary Schools in Kosciusko. During the sixties, the company was a dominant force in mechanical construction throughout the state of Mississippi. Ivey’s participated in numerous major projects, including the Twin Towers construction on the campus of the University of Mississippi at Oxford in 1968. Ivey’s was framing a quality reputation, which would serve as a cornerstone for progress and expansion.

The name Ivey’s Plumbing and Electrical Company was changed in 1969 to Ivey’s shortly after Kermit Ivey’s death. By this time, the mold had been well established. In the early 70’s, Ivey’s took a new direction when local projects began to diminish. They secured a major project with the federal government for barracks work at Keesler Air Force Base in Biloxi, Mississippi.

This proved to be a significant turning point for the company and a beginning of geographical expansion. Marlin Ivey began to shape the company’s philosophy of going where the work was greatest. This eventually led to division offices in Nashville, Tennessee; Houston, Texas; Jackson, Mississippi; Charlotte, North Carolina; and Miami, Florida. Some of these offices have since been closed and others opened as markets changed in certain areas.

In the seventies, contract work with the military began to decline. Ivey’s responded by obtaining a number of new government contracts in several states performing mechanical work on a wide variety of government buildings.

Around 1973, Ivey’s took on their first V.A. hospital project. Through the mid-seventies, Ivey’s work was nearly 90% government work. Through this work, Ivey’s became associated with a number of prime contractors for medical facilities. By the late seventies as government work slowed due to budget cuts, Ivey’s was ready for private hospital contracting.

In 1990, J. Marlin Ivey stepped down as Board Chairman and his son, Joe Ivey, took over controls of the industry giant. The daily operations were managed by President and part owner, Larry Terrell. The name of the company was changed to Ivey Mechanical Company, Inc. to facilitate the change in management and ownership. During the nineties, the company grew from producing revenues of around $50 million to over $140 million. With the late nineties came a wave of consolidations within the industry. Ivey Mechanical Company was one of the first mechanical contractors to consolidate as part of Building One Services in September of 1998. Joe Ivey became President of the mechanical group and several months later became CEO of Building One Services. Larry Terrell continued to serve as President of Ivey Mechanical Company, as a Building One Services Company.

In February of 2000, Building One Services Corporation and Group Maintenance America Corp. merged to create Encompass Services Corporation, a $4 billion company. Joe Ivey served as CEO of Encompass Services Corporation. Larry Terrell continued as President of Encompass Mechanical Services Southeast, Inc., which included the Ivey companies plus nine additional mechanical operations in the southeast.

Due to a downturn in the economy on top of debt Encompass had incurred in acquisitions, Encompass filed chapter 11 bankruptcy in November of 2002. During this time, the Ivey companies continued to operate effectively satisfying customers and meeting budgets on an annual basis.

In January of 2003, Larry Terrell along with key management successfully acquired Ivey Mechanical Company back from Encompass and now operates as Ivey Mechanical Company, LLC. Today, Ivey operates with a healthy balance sheet and budget revenues of approximately $175 million projected for 2006.

Ivey Mechanical Company, LLC is a national merit shop contractor involved in construction projects from coast to coast with business units in Atlanta, Georgia; Birmingham, Alabama; Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas; Fayetteville, North Carolina; Jackson, Mississippi; Jacksonville, Florida; Kosciusko, Mississippi; Lexington, Kentucky; Louisville, Kentucky; Nashville, Tennessee; Northern Kentucky/Cincinnati, and Raleigh, North Carolina.

Ivey Mechanical Company is an American leader in the contracting of sheet metal, air conditioning-heating, control and medical gas systems and plumbing. The company has been involved in a variety of projects including healthcare, industrial, data processing, manufacturing, commercial, environmental, government and military facilities.